In times of increasing energy scarcity and environmental strain, clean regenerative energy conversion from solar energy, which shines at no cost, receives particular significance. In particular commercial and private roof areas (generally referred to as “substrate”, because it can also be a concrete surface having horizontal, vertical, or inclined orientation) may thus be reconfigured to form useful surfaces. Solar energy can be used directly for obtaining power (photovoltaics), for heating water (solar thermal energy), and/or for generating fuel by photovoltaic-induced water splitting. A solar module, whether for obtaining power, heat, or fuel, a solar module for obtaining heat frequently being referred to as a “solar collector”, typically comprises a rectangular housing box having a cover plate, which is retained fixedly on the housing box via a frame construction. In a row configuration of solar modules, their maintenance and replacement is relatively simple, because there is good accessibility to the individual modules. In a matrix configuration of solar modules—also having different functions—having multiple rows and columns, accessibility of the inner solar modules in particular is only provided with difficulty. This access must also only occur via the cover plate. The simple removal thereof is a condition for this purpose.
Laying a simple glass pane as a cover plate with a round cord seal interposed on an essentially L-shaped support profile and clipping it fixedly there using a mushroom-shaped sealing lip, is described in a solar collector from German Utility Model G 92 119121 U1. The sealing lip has projections for this purpose, which engage behind angles in the support profile. The sealing lip is simultaneously used for anchoring and sealing the glass pane in the housing box. It is only possible to remove the glass pane by pulling the projections of the sealing lip out of angles in the support profile. However, the sealing lip loses its anchoring and sealing capabilities due to occurrences of age. A similar configuration for a hybrid collector for simultaneously obtaining power and heat, in which the cover plate is situated as a photovoltaic plate for obtaining power over an absorber plate for obtaining heat, is described in German Utility Model DE 20 2006 010 460 U1.
Laying the glass pane on the edge of the housing box over a seal unit is also described in a solar collector from European Patent Application EP 0 877 214 A2. The seal unit is used for adaptation to different pressure conditions in the housing box and has an inner soft-elastic seal element, a middle hard-elastic seal element, and an outer plastic seal element. The plasticity of the plastic seal element increases with rising temperature, so that the plastic seal element begins to flow and fills up the intermediate space between glass pane and edge of the housing box. It is only possible to dismount the glass pane by destroying the plastic seal. The hard-elastic seal element is used as a slightly deformable mounting of the glass pane. The soft-elastic seal element is constructed as closed-cell and ensures a slight restoration of the seal unit in the unpressurized state. The glass pane is locked using an enclosing edge protector, about which no further statements are made, however.
A seal which is also to compensate for plate movements in a solar collector is described in German Utility Model DE 296 12 893 U1. A simple glass pane is situated over the absorber pane using a double V-shaped and slotted seal here. The seal is located below the glass pane and is clipped onto a hook bracket in a frame profile. The seal is glued onto the glass pane. It is only possible to remove the glass pane by destroying the glued joint or pulling down the seal from the hook bracket. The frame profile does not touch the glass pane, so that it has no further direct framing. Laying an inclined solar panel in a frame profile, which has two round grooves, is described in European Patent Application EP 1 146 297 A1. Sheet-metal screws are screwed through the housing wall of the housing box to fix the frame profile therein. The frame profile encloses and fixes the solar panel only in the direction of inclination. The frame profile has no enclosure of the solar panel transversely to the inclination, so that no edges, at which running water could accumulate and result in contamination, arise here.
Furthermore, a hybrid module for combined solar power and heat generation is described in German Published Application DE 10 2008 028 489 A1, in which the photovoltaic plate, as a laminate without further cover, and the absorber plate are received by an F-shaped frame profile. For the fastening, the longitudinal leg of the frame profile is implemented as doubled and is put onto a single-edged housing profile. The entire module can thus be pulled off upward. Further sealing measures are not disclosed, however. A similar frame profile for solar collector is described in German Published Application DE 196 52 568 A1.
An edge-free cover plate is fixed and sealed on a support profile relative to a profile web with the aid of a lateral seal. The support profile has a split vertical leg, in which two detent grooves are located. To fix the cover plate with the support profile on the housing box, the housing wall has lateral detent ribs, over which the detent grooves are pushed so that they lock behind them. It is only possible to remove the cover plate by forcefully overcoming the detent force.
European Patent Application EP 1 233 238 A1 describes a frame construction for fixedly holding a glass pane as a cover plate on a housing box is disclosed for a solar installation for heat generation (solar collector). The frame construction comprises an essentially L-shaped support profile, on whose transverse leg a glass pane is laid as a cover plate with a round cord seal interposed. The longitudinal leg of the support profile is connected in a way not described in greater detail to a housing wall of the housing box (also not shown in greater detail). The glass pane is locked on the housing box using a detent device. For this purpose, an essentially F-shaped cover bracket is used, whose longitudinal leg engages over the glass pane with a detent seal interposed on the top side of the glass pane and which has a detent rib as a detent element on the inner side of one of the two transverse legs. The cover bracket is pushed over a corresponding detent rib as the other detent element on the longitudinal leg of the support profile therewith, so that cover bracket and support profile fixedly lock with one another. Removing the glass pane is again only possible by forcefully overcoming the detent force and completely removing the cover bracket while cutting through the seal on the top side of the glass pane, controlled actuation of the detent device and/or the detent elements is not provided. On the other hand, however, only the detent force applied by the detent device via the cover bracket ensures the locking of the cover plate under wind attack load. Because the cover bracket overlaps the glass pane, it is not free of edges and a recess results on the glass pane on which contaminants may accumulate rapidly. In addition, the frame construction is dependent on the thickness of the cover plate due to the overlap of the cover bracket over the glass pane.